The requirement for travel must have triggered the demand for overnight sleepover places. Where the traveller could rest his horses, wash himself, eat good food with a glass or two and have a sound sleep before embarking upon the journey further another day. The annals so implies. Alehouses used to serve the travellers with home brewed beer and allow him to sleep in the barn or the kitchen. Inns would offer primarily room or dormitory accommodation with attached or shared bathrooms initially and as demand grew, rooms were given attached baths.

The principles governing the stay of the traveller were framed by the innkeeper and were quite strict. The key door of the inn would close at a specific hour and after that, you could not enter even if you were a guest. Since travel conditions those times were tough, people normally would travel alone. Many Inns would therefore not allow travellers with families to stay. One had to eat the fixed breakfast prescribed by the Inn Keeper and on shared tables. The Inns enjoyed good occupancy and business in the absence of any alternative.

From those medieval days to the present day, the Inns have covered a lot of ground, seen enormous developments and embraced changes in the item, style and operations of current day Inns. Even the traveller has changed to guests who no more arrive on the horse back; he's a jet set traveller with totally fresh group of demands and expectations. Inns are now full service hotels, meeting the demand criteria of the guests. The brands command an amount premium whilst the demand for rooms are very high.

The factor that used to characterise the early day inns are, these were mostly or generally located on the intersection of two major roads, or at the entry of a town or near the railway station no more holds good. Today one finds Inns anywhere and everywhere. Airports, down town, city centre, beach or resort location, specially on ski resorts and golf resorts or for instance even within a mixed development.

Since Inns are perceived as budget hotels, offering economical rates for the rooms and food and beverages, they normally attract the bulk of mid market segment and enjoy a relatively higher occupancy. Inns also have a reduced operating overheads and therefore despite lower revenues, are able to generate a healthier contribution to the bottom line. This cost benefit benefit of the product has prompted all the big hotel chains to enter the Hotels Inn segment. It is a profitable business niche from investment angle.

A few of the big ticket Inn sign boards would read like the Fair Field Inns by Marriott Hotels, Days Inns & Quality Inn, Holiday Inns by Intercontinental Hotels, Premier Inns, Residence Inns, Park Inns, Hampton Inns and Suites, Sleep Inns and the list goes on. The main advantage of big corporate launching Inn brands has been many folds. It provides quality stamp to the Inn product and offers the chance to the Inn tag to ride on the trunk of upscale tags like the town hotels, down town hotels, luxury hotels etc.

Today, some hotels inns are nearly as good in product development and quality as any luxury hotel or a 5-star hotel. They've good sized and well-appointed guest rooms, 2-3 gourmet restaurants, bars, pubs, discotheque, business centre, health club with a well-fitted gym, swimming pool. Meeting spaces and the works, yet they're shy to drop the "inn" tag afraid to loose the special status they enjoy. Inns wouldn't like to get drowned in the deep ocean of the hotel world and loose their identity. Inns are a different world. Inns remind you of the nostalgic time journey of hotel evolution.